Bungie was called out by the Destiny 2 community after an artist shared their work and claimed how the new Season of the Deep cutscene bared a strong resemblance to their design. Now, Bungie has confirmed the work was indeed copied, with the fan being compensated for the mixup.
When it comes to gaming communities, the Destiny 2 crowd is some of the most loyal and active going around at the moment. As a result, players in the space are never ones to shy away from calling out developer Bungie if there are things with Destiny 2 they have issues with.
The latest controversy to hit Destiny 2 is in regards to the new Season of the Deep cutscene that just debuted, one that pushed the story along further than anything else in recent months. While fans loved the new visuals, one player noticed that it sparked a very close resemblance to some of their own artwork.
Julian Faylona, a digital artist and gaming content creator, posted on Twitter that the new Season of the Deep cutscene bares a strong resemblance to their own artwork, as first reported by TheGamePost.
Damn; bungie stealing artwork AGAIN!
— Naberz (@Naberius_TTV) June 21, 2023
“I just realized Bungie took inspiration from my piece for this week’s cutscene. Certainly took me by surprise when I watched the cutscene,” wrote Faylona while also uploading a side-by-side comparison of the artwork on Twitter.
Fans in the comments section were initially furious at Bungie for just how closely the official artwork resembled the fan art created by Faylona.
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One user wrote, “Homie get a lawyer they owe you money.” Another added “I’m sorry brother but that’s not ‘inspired by,’ that’s theft.”
We've discovered that an external vendor that helped to create this cutscene mistakenly used this art as a reference, assuming it was official Bungie art.We have reached out to the artist to apologize for the mix-up and to credit and compensate them for their awesome work. https://t.co/Sqkg5tRHKj
— Destiny 2 Team (@Destiny2Team) June 22, 2023
Hours after the controversy caught fire across social media, Bungie chimed in on the matter. The Destiny 2 devs were quick to confirm that the fan art was indeed copied for the cutscene, apologizing and assuring the player would be compensated for their work.
“We’ve discovered that an external vendor that helped to create this cutscene mistakenly used this art as a reference, assuming it was official Bungie art,” a June 22 statement read.
“We have reached out to the artist to apologize for the mix-up and to credit and compensate them for their awesome work.”
For all the latest Destiny 2 news and updates, be sure to check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.